Sherrod Brown disappointed but in on Senate health reform bill while Howard Dean says kill the bill

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Sherrod Brown, Ohio's junior senator who has fast become the darling of progressive cable news talks shows, giving daily running commentary on its iterations in the U.S. Senate, has made it clear that while he is disappointed the bill has had key provisions like the public option and Medicare buy-in dropped from it, he will vote for it nonetheless because there's too much at stake.

Meanwhile, the man from Vermont who lead Brown's Democratic Party to victory in so many races including that of President last year, gave his opinion as both a medical doctor and a political doctor, saying "the time has come for Senate Democratic leaders to kill the current health care reform bill because it's no longer worth supporting."

"I'm going to vote for it," Brown told reporters, according to Talking Points Memo. "I can't imagine I wouldn't. I mean there's too much at stake. And it's not at me, it's not about any senator, it's not about Lieberman, it's not about Harry Reid."

Howard Dean, the former governor of Vermont who ran and lost the nomination as the standard bearer for Democrats in the 2004 race for the White House, said on Vermont Public Radio Tuesday that he is upset that the Democrats appear willing to weaken a public option provision in the bill in order to secure the vote of Independent Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman.

"This is essentially the collapse of health care reform in the United States Senate. And, honestly, the best thing to do right now is kill the Senate bill and go back to the House and start the reconciliation process, where you only need 51 votes and it would be a much simpler bill," he said to host Bob Kinzel.

"The American people don't care how we get this, as long as we get a decent process. The Republicans in the Senate will moan and groan, but they're out of touch with where America really is. You have the vast majority of Americans want the choices, they want real choices. They don't have them in this bill. This is not health care reform and it's not close to health care reform," said Dean, who some think could persuade some progressive members of the Senate to rethink their support for the bill.

Asked what's good about the bill, Dean said this: "There are some good things in this bill, but they're small, and let's have a small bill for this $32 billion. Doesn't sound like a small amount, but compared to a trillion dollars - 27 percent of which is going to go to the insurance companies' pockets, it's a small price to pay to help community health care centers and prevention and wellness programs."

"I'm going to vote for it," Brown told reporters. "I can't imagine I wouldn't. I mean there's too much at stake. And it's not at me, it's not about any senator, it's not about Lieberman, it's not about Harry Reid."

Brown responded to a reporter's question about whether he had challenged Lieberman on his opposition to the public option and the buy-in this way: "In the meeting with the President, I just made a direct appeal to him...I answered the arguments I've heard him make...that it's revenue neutral, that it doesn't hurt Medicare."

On his Senate Web site, Brown says he supports legislation that would cut health care costs, protect consumer choice, and ensure all Americans access to quality affordable coverage. "As Congress and the Obama Administration consider health care reform legislation, I will fight for health care reform that includes a public insurance option."

New U.S. Census Bureau data from 2008 showed that the number of uninsured Ohioans increased from 1.2 million in 2007 to 1.3 million in 2008.

The 2009 Scorecard on State Health System Performance, which is published by Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System that ranks states based on population health and quality of the health care system, said Ohio slipped from 17th in 2007 to 19th in 2009 for access, fell from 11th to 21st on the report card’s equity ranking and dropped from 39th to 42 on the healthy lives ranking.

Brown, who won his Senate seat in 2006, said health care reform is about protecting what works and fixing what’s broken. "It’s about giving you choices in the health care you want," he said, adding, "Our health care system is broken if private insurance companies dictate which doctors your children can see or which health services you’re able to access and afford."

Brown's commitment to reforming the nation's health care system to increase the insurance options available to Americans has certainly taken a blow, if the bill being sculpted, or gutted as Dean says is happening, eventually arrives on President Obama's desk.

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